High speed parallel process insulated glass manufacturing line

ABSTRACT

A high speed parallel manufacturing line for manufacturing insulated glass units, the manufacturing line including a front conveyor system, a back conveyor system, a shuttle mechanism that distributes glass lites to the front conveyor system and the back conveyor system, an insulated glass unit spacer applicator having a spacer dispensing head configured to apply perimeter spacer material to one of the glass lites, the spacer head being proportionally movable relative to the glass lite as the glass lite is conveyed on the front conveyor mechanism to apply the perimeter spacer material to create a spacer applied lite and a gas press. A secondary edge sealing unit has a first secondary edge sealing head and a second secondary edge sealing head, each of the first secondary edge sealing head and the second secondary edge sealing head applying edge sealant to portion of a perimeter of an insulated glass unit.

RELATED APPLICATION

This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application62/008,269 filed Jun. 5, 2014 entitled “High Speed Parallel ProcessInsulated Glass Manufacturing Line” which is incorporated herein in itsentirety by reference.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The invention relates to production of insulated glass units.

BACKGROUND

Insulated glass is heavily utilized in modern residential and commercialconstruction. In many areas of the country it is required by buildingcode as an energy conservation measure. A single pane of glass alone hasvery little insulating value. Multi-pane insulated glass windows havemuch greater insulating value. Insulated glass units generally includeat least two panes of glass having identical shapes. Sealants andadhesives are used to bond the glass panes to a perimeter spacer whichseparates the two panes of glass. The entire perimeter including the twopanes of glass and the spacer are sealed to one another to eliminatemovement of ambient air into the space between the two panes of glass.

The space is filled with dehydrated air or more commonly another gassuch as argon, xenon or krypton. Sulfur hexafluoride is also used forgas filling. The filling of insulated glass units with argon or anothergas that is not air has been found to increase the energy efficiency ofthe insulated glass units markedly. Some insulated glass units includesthree panes of glass with two intervening spaces which are similarlyfilled with argon or another gas other than air and then edge sealed.

The spacer in an insulated glass unit is inset from the peripheral edgesof the glass panes leading to a trough shaped space bounded on two sidesby the glass panes and on one side by the spacer. In the manufacturingof insulating glass units, this space is filled with an adhesive sealantwhich forms the, so called, secondary seal of the insulated glass unit.The secondary seal may be applied using a variety of different adhesivesealants. These include time setting sealants, such as silicones orbutyl rubber sealants. Sometimes two part sealants utilizing a resin anda catalyst to polymerize the resin are utilized. More commonly in modernmanufacturing, hot melt adhesive sealants are used. Hot melt adhesivesealants are general applied in a liquid state at a temperature ofapproximately 350° F. and harden upon cooling to ambient temperature.

In high volume manufacturing facilities, the secondary seal is commonlyapplied by fully automated equipment in which a computer controlledrobotic sealant applying head is moved around the peripheral edges ofthe insulated glass unit under computer control and applies the sealantto the edge or edges of the insulated glass unit. Fully automatedsecondary edge sealing equipment of this sort can apply the secondaryseal to very large numbers of insulating glass units in a productionrun. Typically, the insulated glass units in these circumstances areproduced in large runs of identical units.

The process of manufacturing insulated glass units generally includesinfeed of glass panes or lites into a washing unit that cleans bothsurfaces of each pane and, in particular, the surface of each pane thatwill be on the interior of the insulated glass unit. This isparticularly important because, once the insulated glass unit iscomplete the interior surfaces will be inaccessible to cleaning and anyvisible dirt is impossible to remove. Accordingly, the washing stationis generally followed by an inspection station to assure that the panesare clean.

In the prior art, panes or lites are then conveyed in tandem fashion tofurther processing. The panes are divided into pairs, each pairincluding a spacer lite to which a peripheral spacer is applied andwhich forms the back of the IGU and a topping lite which will ultimatelybe applied on top of the spacer lite and sealed to the spacer to formthe insulated glass unit. According to the prior art generally, thetopping lite proceeds first in the pair and is followed by the spacerapplied lite. When the spacer lite reaches a spacer application stationthe peripheral spacer is applied. The spacer lite and the topping liteare both advanced so that the topping lite can be removed from theconveyor. According to the prior art, the topping lite is picked upfirst at the gas press then the spacer applied lite is conveyed in andunit is gas filled and assembled. The primary sealed insulated glassunit is then conveyed to a secondary seal applicator to apply secondarysealant to the edges bordered by the spacer and the peripheral portionsof the lites. The completed IGU is then conveyed to the end of theprocessing line for transport to next steps.

According to the prior art, the heads for application of spacer andsealant are stationary in the X axis and the glass lites or IGUs aremoved relative to the fixed heads. Thus the prior art requires that theglass to move though the zone three times. Once for application alongbottom x axis moving forward, once across the top x axis moving backwardand then removal forward to the next station.

There is a need for application devices in the window industry that canincrease the productivity of manufacturing of insulated glass units.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The high speed parallel process insulating glass manufacturing lineaccording to the embodiments of the invention solves many of theindustry demands for higher cycle speed, shorter cycle time andautomation of the manufacturing process. According to an exampleembodiment, the high speed line generally includes an infeed station, aglass washer, an inspection station, a shuttle, a driven parallel infeedconveyor, an insulated glass unit spacer applicator, a following queuestation, a grid station followed by a second queue station, a gasfilling station, a secondary edge sealer and an outfeed queue station.Embodiments of the invention are expected to permit a cycle time ofapproximately 15-20 second per unit as compared to the prior art cycletime of 25-30 seconds per unit. This cycle time is expected to be 33 to50 percent of the prior art cycle time. Thus a doubling of productionrate over the prior art is possible.

The infeed station is generally conventional and receives glass panes orlites generally fed to the line one at a time by an operator.

The washer is also generally conventional and according to an exampleembodiment of the invention, is generally vertically oriented so thatlites are washed and dried in a generally vertical orientation.Vertical, in this case means that the lites are held in an orientationwithin about 25 degrees of true vertical, more typically within 6 to 10degrees of vertical, for example six degrees from vertical.

The inspection station is also generally conventional and permitsinspection of the washed glass for cleanliness and condition.

The shuttle according to an example embodiment of the invention is adouble shuttle which distributes lites so that topping lites are in aback conveyor line and spacer applied lites are in a front conveyorline. According to one embodiment of the invention, the double shuttleminimizes shifting when glass lites are distributed to the front andback conveyor line.

Spacer applied lites are those to which a perimeter spacer will be orhas been applied in the construction of an insulated glass unit (IGU).Topping lites are those that will be or have been applied to a perimeterspacer that is already joined to a spacer applied lite to form an IGUthat is partially completed in that it has been primary sealed but nosecondary sealant has been applied. An insulated glass unit (IGU)includes a spacer applied lite joined to a topping lite and a perimeterspacer sealed to both the spacer applied lite joined to a topping litewith air or another gas trapped in between.

The driven parallel infeed conveyor is a queue conveyor and receivesglass lites from the shuttle and conveys them to the insulated glassunit spacer applicator. Spacer applied lites are in a front conveyorline while topping lites are in a rear conveyor line. Separate conveyingof the topping lites and the spacer applied lites eliminates time wastedconveying the topping lite through the spacer applied lite work areasand may save as much as five seconds of cycle time according to theinvention.

The insulated glass unit spacer applicator receives lites from theparallel infeed conveyor and applies spacers to the spacer applied liteon the front conveyor line while conveying the topping lite behind thespacer applied lite. The IGU spacer applicator is structured so that afollowing spacer applied lite can be staged for the applicator prior tothe finishing of the application of the spacer to the first spacerapplied lite. Staging the following lite prior to finishing the priorlite saves about three seconds in cycle time.

According to an example embodiment of the invention, the spacer isapplied while the lite is moving forward. Thus, the applicator head andglass are conveyed forward simultaneously at the same time that theapplicator head is moving relative to the lite and applying the spacer.As compared to the prior art, the spacer applicator according to anembodiment of the invention eliminates backing up of the lite during theapplication process so that the lite is only moved forward continuouslyduring the process. Applying the spacer while the spacer applied lite ismoving a forward direction saves about five second in cycle time overthe prior art approach.

According to an embodiment of the invention, the spacer or primary sealis applied to the bottom of the lite then to the trailing edge of thelite, the top edge of the lite and the leading edge of the lite insequence. This occurs while the lite is moving forward so that the litenever is required to move backward or to stop the manufacturing line.The spacer applicator head moves in the x, y and z axes plus in arotational fashion.

The spacer applied lite is conveyed through the spacer applicator by aservo-driven suction cup assembly structured to grip the lite and movethe lite forward with variable speed while the spacer is applied.According to an example embodiment of the invention, the speed and rateof the servo-driven suction cup assembly are electronically controlled.The servo-driven suction cup assembly displaces the lite forward, inpart, to accommodate staging of the following spacer applied lite.

The topping lite and spacer applied lite with spacer now applied exit tothe following queue station prior to the optional grid applicationstation.

The driven grid application station is generally conventional instructure and need not be further described here other than the gridapplication station has two conveyor lanes so the topping lite passesbehind rather than through the grid application work zone. Thisarrangement permits the following spacer applied lite which may requirea grid to be staged 5 seconds faster. The grid application station isused to place grids within the spacer of the spacer applied lite. Thedriven grid application station is optional and can be eliminated ifgrids are not desired.

The gas press with gas fill may include, according to embodiments of theinvention, a single high speed gas press with a shuttle in the press ora double gas press including two gas fill chambers with a shuttle priorto and after the double gas press. As used herein, “gas press” means adevice capable of sealing insulating gas between glass lites.

According to an embodiment of the invention, the double gas pressincludes two gas press compartments including a front gas presscompartment and a back gas press compartment. Each of the front gaspress compartment and the back gas press compartment include gas ductsand an internal conveyor.

According to one embodiment of the invention, the gas ducts are arrangedto dispense gas from either the leading or trailing edge of the unit.The double gas press may include three platens including a front platen,a central platen shared by both compartments and a back platen. As it isoperating, the front compartment receives a first topping lite from theback line. The front compartment then transfers the first topping litefrom the central platen to the front platen while shuttling the frontcompartment to the front line. The front compartment receives a firstspacer applied lite from the front line which is received on the centralplaten front side. The front gas press compartment then dispenses gasand mates the first topping lite with the first spacer applied litecreating a primary sealed insulated glass unit. Meanwhile, the backcompartment is aligned with a back line and receives a second toppinglite from the back line. The back compartment then shuttles to the frontline where it receives a second spacer applied lite from the front line.The back compartment platens then move together while dispensing gas tomate the second topping lite with the second spacer applied lite. Insequence, each of the back compartment and the front compartment shuttleto alignment with the back line or the front line to convey thepartially completed first and second insulated glass units. Becausethere are 2 chambers according to this embodiment, each gas fill chamberhas 30-40 seconds to convey glass into each chamber, fill the IGU withgas, assemble and convey the assembled IGU out of the gas fill chamber.Accordingly, the production cycle can be maintained at 15-20 seconds.The glass units alternately load and unload each of the gas presschambers during each cycle. This longer time in each chamber allows forhigher than average gas fill percentages without slowing productionthroughput. This represents yet another improvement over traditionallines where high gas fill percentages will slow the line's production.

According to another example embodiment of the invention, a single highspeed gas press is used. According to an example embodiment the singlehigh speed gas press generally includes a housing, a front platen withsuction grippers, a back platen with suction grippers, side doors, aninternal conveyor and gas ducts. According to embodiments of theinvention, the gas ducts may be located below or on the leading edgeside or the trailing edge side of the housing.

The single high speed gas press shuttles from the back line to the frontline. In sequence, it receives a topping lite conveyed from the backline, transfers the topping lite from the back platen to the frontplaten and meanwhile shuttles to the front line. The single gas pressthen receives the spacer applied lite from the front line. Side doors ofthe single gas press close and the internal conveyor moves out of theway. Gas ducts are moved into position at the bottom or side as theinternal conveyor is moved out of the way. Gas is then injected and theplatens move to mate the topping lite to the spacer applied lite andpress them together to establish a primary seal. The internal conveyorthen moves back into place and the assembled insulated glass unit isconveyed out at the same time as a following topping lite is conveyedin.

The primary sealed, partially complete insulated glass unit then isconveyed to the secondary edge sealer.

According to an example embodiment of the invention, the secondary edgesealer is a two headed edge sealer. According to an example embodiment,an upper head applies secondary sealant to the leading edge, the topedge and the trailing edge of the insulated glass unit. The lower headapplies secondary sealant to the bottom edge of the partially completedinsulated glass unit. According to an embodiment of the invention,servo-driven cups grip and transport the insulated glass unit. Theservo-driven cups also displace the insulated glass unit forward topermit staging of a following unit while the first unit is being edgesealed. According to an example embodiment of the invention, each of theupper and lower secondary edge sealing heads includes a corner wiperthat eliminates or minimizes the need for operator touch-up of theinsulating glass unit. This is particularly helpful with the short cycletime of the present invention as the operator is unlikely to have muchtime to touch-up due to the 15-20 second cycle time of the high speedparallel insulated glass manufacturing line. As compared to the priorart, there is no need for the IGU to be backed up and reconveyed throughthe secondary sealer. In the prior art, the IGU is generally conveyedthrough secondary sealer three times in a forward direction and moved inreverse two times. This represents a time savings of about five secondsover the conventional approach.

According to example embodiments of the invention, the two edge sealingheads are mounted on a short move x-gantry. The gantry is capable ofmoving in the x direction along with the IGU as the IGU is conveyedforward, for example, for about eight inches. This short move forward inthe x direction allows for the finishing Y movement of the gantry to beslightly ahead of the starting y move. This allows the next IGU to bestaged at the start point prior to the prior unit being completed. Thisfeature saves up to 3 more seconds in cycle time.

According to example embodiments of the invention, secondary sealantsare either hot melt sealants or two part sealant that set rapidly tosupport the short cycle times. More conventional sealants can beutilized as well.

The completed insulated glass units are then conveyed out to a driven ornon-driven outfeed queue station where the operator moves the completedinsulated glass unit for further processing.

It is to be noted related to this application that the term “parallel”is to be construed broadly and is not limited to “parallel” in thegeometric sense of being equidistant at all points unless otherwisenoted in the application of claims. Parallel may, for example, refer totwo conveyor paths that begin and end at substantially the samelocations but take different paths between the beginning and end.

It is expected that the high speed parallel process insulated glassmanufacturing line according to an embodiment of the invention will havecycle times of approximately 17-18 seconds for insulated glass unitsdepending upon size. It is possible that the high speed parallelinsulated glass manufacturing line will be able to achieve cycle timesof approximately 15 seconds per insulated glass unit. This is asignificant gain over the prior art known to Applicant”, possiblydoubling production without adding employees.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a block diagram depicting a high speed parallel processinsulating glass manufacturing line according to an example embodimentof the invention;

FIG. 2 is an end elevational view of an IGU spacer applicator accordingto an example embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 3 is a schematic depiction of an IGU spacer applicator at thebeginning of spacer application to a spacer applied lite;

FIG. 4 is a schematic depiction of an IGU spacer applicator duringspacer application to a spacer applied lite bottom edge;

FIG. 5 is a schematic depiction of an IGU spacer applicator duringspacer application to a spacer applied lite trailing edge;

FIG. 6 is a schematic depiction of an IGU spacer applicator beginningspacer application to a spacer applied lite top edge;

FIG. 7 is a schematic depiction of an IGU spacer applicator continuingspacer application to a spacer applied lite top edge;

FIG. 8 is a schematic depiction of an IGU spacer applicator duringspacer application to a spacer applied lite leading edge;

FIG. 9 is a schematic depiction of a dual head IGU secondary sealer atthe initiation of an IGU sealing sequence;

FIG. 10 is a schematic depiction of a dual head IGU secondary sealer asa first sealing head applies secondary sealant to a leading edge of aninsulated glass unit and a second sealing head engages the bottom edgeof the insulated glass unit;

FIG. 11 is a schematic depiction of a dual head IGU secondary sealer asa first sealing head applies secondary sealant to a top edge of aninsulated glass unit and a second sealing head applies sealant to thebottom edge of the insulated glass unit;

FIG. 12 is a schematic depiction of a dual head IGU secondary sealer asthe first sealing head completes application of secondary sealant to atop edge of an insulated glass unit and the second sealing headcompletes application of sealant to the bottom edge of the insulatedglass unit;

FIG. 13 is a schematic depiction of a dual head IGU secondary sealer asthe first sealing head applies secondary sealant to a trailing edge ofan insulated glass unit and a second sealing head disengages from thebottom edge of the insulated glass unit;

FIG. 14 is an elevational view of a double gas press according to anembodiment of the invention; and

FIG. 15 is an elevational view of a single gas press according to anembodiment of the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Referring to FIG. 1 according to an example embodiment of the invention,high speed parallel process insulating glass manufacturing line 50generally includes infeed station 52, washer 54, inspection station 56,shuttle 58, driven parallel infeed conveyor 60, IGU spacer applicator62, following queue station 64, driven grid station 66, second queuestation 68, gas press and fill station 70, secondary edge sealer 72, andnon-driven outfeed queue station 74. This example embodiment may includeelements that are optional as will be discussed herein. However, theelements of the invention are to be defined by the claims appendedhereto.

Infeed station 52 is generally conventional in design and known to thoseskilled in the art and need not be further described.

Washer 54 is general conventional in design and need not be describedfurther herein. Washers 54 are known to those skilled in the art and areavailable from a number of manufacturers. Washer 54 however, is a glasslite or pane washer that operates with the lite in a generally verticalorientation.

Inspection station 56 is generally conventional in design and need notbe further described herein.

Shuttle 58 according to an example embodiment of the invention includesdouble shuttle mechanism 76. Double shuttle mechanism 76 travels backand forth and divides incoming lites from infeed station 52, washer 54and inspection station 56 into spacer applied lites 78 and topping lites80. According to an example embodiment of the invention, spacer appliedlites 78 are directed to front conveyor line 82 while topping lites 80are directed to rear conveyor line 84. For the purposes of discussion ofthe invention, while spacer applied lite 78 and topping lite 80 may beidentical or similar pieces of glass, spacer applied lite 78 refers tolites to which a perimeter spacer has been or will be applied during themanufacturing process while topping lite 80 refers to lites that will beapplied on top of the spacer applied lite and perimeter spacer to createa partially assembled insulated glass unit.

Front conveyor line 82 generally transports spacer applied lites 78.Front conveyor line 82 extends generally from shuttle 58 to gas pressand fill station 74. This should not be considered limiting as dependingupon the exact design of high speed parallel manufacturing line 50according to example embodiments of the invention, this extent may vary.Rear conveyor line 84 generally transports topping lites 80 and, similarto front conveyor line 82, in an example embodiment, extends generallyfrom shuttle 58 to gas press and fill station 74.

Driven parallel infeed conveyor 60 is generally conventional in designand known to those skilled in the art and need not be further describedhere. Driven parallel infeed conveyor 60 includes front conveyor line 82and rear conveyor line 84 upon which spacer applied lite 78 and toppinglite 80 are conveyed.

Referring to FIGS. 2-8, IGU spacer applicator 62 generally includesapplicator head 86, applicator gantry 88 and servo driven cup 90. Frontconveyor line 82 upon which spacer applied lite 78 is transported isaccessible to applicator head 86. Rear conveyor line 84 transportstopping lites through IGU spacer applicator 62 to the rear.

Applicator head 86 is supported by applicator gantry 88 and applicatorhead 86, in combination with applicator gantry 88, is capable oftranslation in x, y and z axes. Applicator head 86 is generally alsocapable of rotational movement about the z axis to facilitateapplication of spacers to spacer applied lite 78.

Servo driven cup 90 supports suction cups configured to selectively gripspacer applied lite 78. Such suction cups are generally conventional andneed not be further described here to those of ordinary skill in theart. As best seen in FIG. 4, servo driven cup 90 is configured to gripspacer applied lite 78 and advance it slightly prior to the beginning ofapplication to permit the staging of a following spacer applied lite 78while a perimeter spacer is applied to the leading spacer applied lite78.

IGU spacer applicator 62 generally also includes vertical support 104 inaddition to front conveyor 100 and rear conveyor 102.

Referring particularly to FIGS. 3-8, according to an example embodimentof the invention, spacer is applied while spacer applied lite 78 ismoving forward. Thus, applicator head 86 and applicator gantry 88 areconfigured to follow spacer applied lite 78 as it is conveyed forwardand to apply spacer while spacer applied lite 78 is being conveyedforward.

According to an example embodiment of the invention, movement ofapplicator head 86, applicator gantry 88 and servo driven cup 90 arecoordinated with each other so that spacer is applied first to bottomedge 92 of spacer applied lite 78 followed by trailing edge 94 of spacerapplied lite 78 then top edge 96 and leading edge 98 in sequence whilespacer applied lite 78 travels forward. Accordingly, applicator head 86first travels backward relative to the motion of spacer applied lite 78to apply spacer bottom edge 92 of spacer then upward to apply spacer totrailing edge 94 then forward relative to spacer applied lite 78 toapply spacer to top edge 96. Applicator head 86 then travels downwardalong leading edge 96 to complete spacer application around theperimeter of spacer applied lite 78. All the while spacer applied lite78 travels forward on the assembly line.

According to an example embodiment of the invention, applicator head 86then rotates in a clockwise direction while returning to apply spacer toa following spacer applied lite 78.

Driven grid station 66 is generally conventional in design and includesgrid applicator 106. Driven grid station 66 is generally conventional indesign and need not be further described here.

Gas press and fill station 70 according to example embodiments of theinvention may include double gas press 108 or single gas press 110.

According to an example embodiment, depicted in FIG. 14, double gaspress 108 includes two gas press compartments 112 including front gaspress compartment 114 and rear gas press compartment 116. Each of frontgas press compartment 114 and rear gas press compartment 116 include gasducts 118 and internal conveyor 120.

Double gas press 108 generally includes three platens 122. Platens 122include front platen 124, central platen 126 and back platen 128. Eachof the three platens 122 includes suction grippers (not depicted) on atleast one surface thereof. According to an example embodiment of theinvention, front platen 124 includes suction grippers (not depicted) onone surface thereof while central platen 126 includes suction gripperson two surfaces thereof and back platen 128 includes suction grippers onone surface thereof.

Double gas press 108 includes gas supply 130 as well. Front gas presscompartment 114 and rear gas press compartment 116 are configured toopen and close to accept spacer applied lites 78 and topping lites 80.Double gas press 108 is configured so that front gas press compartment114 and rear gas press compartment 116 shuttle back and forth to alignwith front conveyor 100 and rear conveyor 102.

Front platen 124 is configured to be movable back and forth relative tocentral platen 126 to open and close front gas compartment 114 whilealso bringing spacer applied lite 78 into close proximity to toppinglite 80 for mating. Rear gas press compartment 116 is configured so thatback platen 128 and central platen 126 may be moved relative to eachother in a similar fashion.

According to another example embodiment depicted in FIG. 15, single gaspress 110 generally includes housing 132 enclosing front platen 134 andback platen 136. Housing 132 further includes side doors 138, internalconveyor 140 and gas ducts 142. Single gas press 110 is structured totravel or shuttle forward and back between front conveyor 100 and rearconveyor 102. Front platen 134 is movable relative to back platen 136.Gas ducts 142 may be located below, at the leading edge or at thetrailing edge of single gas press 110. Side doors 138 are configured toopen and close to contain gas therein and exclude atmospheric gas duringthe gas filling process.

If gas ducts 142 are located below the location at which spacer appliedlites 78 are received, gas ducts may be configured to withdraw andadvance while internal conveyor 140 is withdrawn and advanced to permitgas filling. For example, gas ducts 142 and internal conveyor 140 can bemutually coupled and movable perpendicular to their long axis.

Referring to FIGS. 9-13, according to an example embodiment, secondaryedge sealer 72 generally includes first edge sealing head 144, secondedge sealing head 146, servo driven cup 148, and gantry 150.

According to an example embodiment of the invention, first edge sealinghead 144 is supported by gantry 150. Second edge sealing head 146 isseparately located at a lower edge of where insulated gas units thathave been gas filled and pressed pass through secondary edge sealer 72.According to an example embodiment of the invention, first edge sealinghead 144 travels on gantry 140 to apply secondary edge sealant toleading edge 98, top edge 96 and trailing edge 94 of insulated glassunits. Second edge sealing head 146 applies secondary edge sealant tobottom edge 92 of insulated glass units. According to an exampleembodiment of the invention, servo driven cups 148 grip and transportthe insulated glass unit forward. It is notable that according to thepresent invention, insulated glass units never travel backwards on theconveyor line but always move forward. This is also true of spacerapplied lites 78 as spacers are applied to them. Servo driven cups 148are configured to displace the insulated glass unit forward to permitstaging of a following insulated glass unit 78 while the first unit isbeing edge sealed.

According to an example embodiment of the invention, each of the firstedge sealing heads 144 and lower second edge sealing heads 146 includesfirst corner wiper 152 and second corner wiper 154 that eliminate orminimize the need for operator touch-up of insulated glass units. Firstcorner wiper 152 is coupled to first edge sealing head 144 while secondcorner wiper 154 is coupled to second edge sealing head 146.

Having been secondary edge sealed the insulated glass unit is conveyedfrom secondary edge sealer 72 to non-driven outfeed queue station 74.

Non-driven outfeed queue station 74 is generally conventional in designand need not be further described here.

According to another embodiment of the invention, the invention includesa method of manufacturing insulated glass units. According to anembodiment of the invention, the method includes receiving glass litesat infeed station 52; conveying the glass lites to washer 54; washingand drying the glass lites in washer 54; conveying the glass lites to aninspection station 56 and further conveying the glass lites to shuttle58. The method may include shuttling alternate lites to front conveyorline 82 and rear conveyor line 84 and shuttle 58 and distributing spacerapplied lites 78 to front conveyor line 82 and distributing toppinglites 80 to rear conveyor line 84. The method may then include conveyingspacer applied lites 78 and topping lite 80 through infeed conveyor 60to IGU spacer applicator 62.

The method may further include applying IGU spacer to spacer appliedlite 78 while spacer applied lite 78 is constantly moving forward or atleast never being moved backward. The method may further includeapplying spacer to spacer applied lite 78 first, along bottom edge 92,second, along trailing edge 94, third, along top edge 96 and fourth,along leading edge 98. The method further includes conveying spacerapplied lite 78 from IGU spacer applicator 62 to following queue station64.

The method also includes optionally applying grids at driven gridstation 66.

According to another embodiment, the method includes conveying spacerapplied lite 78 and topping lite 80 via second queue station 68 to gaspress and fill station 70.

According to one embodiment of the invention, the method furtherincludes gas filling and applying topping lite 80 to spacer applied lite78 in double gas press 108.

The method further includes in another embodiment applying topping lite80 to spacer applied lite 78 and gas filling in single gas press 110.

A method according to an embodiment of the invention includes matingtopping lite 80 with spacer applied lite 78 in a double gas press. Inthis embodiment of the invention, alternate insulated glass units areassembled in a front gas compartment 114 and a rear gas compartment 116of double gas press 108.

According to another embodiment of the invention, the method furtherincludes mating topping lite 80 with spacer applied lite 78 and gasfilling in single gas press 110.

According to another embodiment of the invention, the method furtherincludes conveying an insulated glass unit from double gas press 108 orsingle gas press 110 to secondary edge sealer 72. The method furtherincludes secondary edge sealing of the insulated glass unit by firstedge sealing head 144 and second edge sealing head 146. The methodfurther includes sealing in sequence leading edge 98, top edge 96, andtrailing edge 94 of the insulated glass unit with first edge sealinghead 144 while simultaneously sealing bottom edge 92 with second edgesealing head 146. The method according to the invention further includesconveying the insulated glass unit with servo driven cup 148 during theedge sealing process. The method may further include secondary edgesealing the insulated glass unit while continuously moving the insulatedglass unit forward in the conveying process.

In operation, glass lites are fed into high speed parallel manufacturingline 50 at infeed station 52. Glass lites are conveyed to washer 54where they are washed and dried. Glass lites are then conveyed toinspection station 56 for inspection. Then glass lites are conveyed toshuttle 58 which places alternate glass lites on front conveyor 100 orrear conveyor 102. Spacer applied lites 78 are transported on frontconveyor 100 while topping lites 80 are transported on rear conveyor102. Spacer applied lites 78 are then transported to IGU spacerapplicator 62 where spacer is applied first to bottom edge 92, then totrailing edge 94, then to top edge 96 and finally to leading edge 98.Spacer is applied while the spacer applied lite 78 is moving forward onthe conveyor line. Spacer applied lite 78 and topping lite 80 are thentransported via following queue station 64 optionally to driven gridstation 66 and then to second queue station 68. Spacer applied lites 78and topping lites 80 are then conveyed to gas press and fill station 70which according to alternate embodiments of the invention may includedouble gas press 108 or single gas press 110. In either case, toppinglites 80 are transferred to the front of the gas press and fill station70 and are mated with spacer applied lite 78 while gas filling takesplace. This creates an insulated glass unit that has been primarilysealed. The insulated glass unit is then transported to secondary edgesealer 72 which applies secondary edge sealant via two edge sealingheads including first edge sealing head 144 and second edge sealing head146. First edge sealing head 144 applies secondary sealant to leadingedge 98, top edge 96 and trailing edge 94 of the insulated glass unit inthat sequence. Simultaneously, second edge sealing head 146 appliessecondary edge sealant to bottom edge 92. During the secondary edgesealing process, edge sealant is wiped at the corners by first cornerwiper 152 and second corner wiper 154. Completed insulated glass unitshaving been secondarily edge sealed are then conveyed to non-drivenoutfeed queue station 74.

The present invention may be embodied in other specific forms withoutdeparting from the spirit of the essential attributes thereof;therefore, the illustrated embodiments should be considered in allrespects as illustrative and not restrictive, reference being made tothe appended claims rather than to the foregoing description to indicatethe scope of the invention.

The invention claimed is:
 1. A parallel manufacturing line formanufacturing insulated glass units, the manufacturing line comprising:a front conveyor system; a back conveyor system operating in parallelwith the front conveyor system; a shuttle mechanism at least a portionof which is shiftable between a first position proximate the frontconveyor system and a second position proximate the back conveyor systemthat distributes glass lites to the front conveyor system and the backconveyor system; an insulated glass unit spacer applicator having aspacer dispensing head configured to apply perimeter spacer material toat least one of the glass lites, the spacer head being proportionallymovable relative to at least one of the glass lites as the at least oneglass lite is conveyed forwardly on one of the front conveyor system andthe back conveyor system to apply the perimeter spacer material tocreate a spacer applied lite and such that the at least one glass liteis moved forward without backward movement on the during spacerapplication; a gas press and seal mechanism having at least one frontplaten and one back platen that mates the spacer applied lite from oneof the front conveyor system and the back conveyor system with a toppinglite from another of the front conveyor system and the back conveyorsystem to create an insulated glass unit; and a secondary edge sealingunit having a first secondary edge sealing head and a second secondaryedge sealing head, each of the first secondary edge sealing head and thesecond secondary edge sealing head applying edge sealant to a portion ofa perimeter of the insulated glass unit wherein the gas press and sealmechanism further comprises a second shuttle that shifts at least aportion of the gas press and seal mechanism between a front positionproximate the front conveyor and a back position proximate the backconveyer system.
 2. The parallel manufacturing line as claimed in claim1, wherein the insulated glass unit spacer applicator applies perimeterspacer material first to a bottom edge of the at least one glass lite,followed by a trailing edge of the at least one glass lite, the top edgeof the glass lite and then to a leading edge of the at least one glasslite.
 3. The parallel manufacturing line as claimed in claim 1, whereinthe first secondary edge sealing head applies the edge sealant to aleading edge of the spacer applied lite, an upper edge of the spacerapplied lite and a trailing edge of the insulated glass unit.
 4. Theparallel manufacturing line as claimed in claim 1, wherein the firstsecondary edge sealing head applies the edge sealant first, to a leadingedge of the spacer applied lite, second to an upper edge of the spacerapplied lite and third to a trailing edge of the insulated glass unit insequence.
 5. The parallel manufacturing line as claimed in claim 3,wherein the second secondary edge sealing head applies the edge sealantto a bottom edge of the insulated glass unit.
 6. The parallelmanufacturing line as claimed in claim 1, wherein the gas press and sealmechanism comprises a single gas press.
 7. The parallel manufacturingline as claimed in claim 6, wherein the single gas press furthercomprises a housing enclosing the front platen and the back platen andfurther comprising side doors and gas ducts.
 8. A parallel manufacturingline for manufacturing insulated glass units the manufacturing linecomprising: a front conveyor system: a back conveyor system operating inparallel with the front conveyor system: a shuttle mechanism thatdistributes glass lites to the front conveyor system and the backconveyor system: an insulated glass unit spacer applicator having aspacer dispensing head configured to apply perimeter spacer material toat least one of the glass lites, the spacer head being proportionallymovable relative to the at least one glass lite as the at least oneglass lite is conveyed forwardly on one of the front conveyor system andthe back conveyor system to apply the perimeter spacer material tocreate a spacer applied lite and such that the at least one glass liteis moved forward during the spacer application: a gas press and sealmechanism having at least one front platen and one back platen thatmates the spacer applied lite from one of the front conveyor system andthe back conveyor system with a topping lite from another of the frontconveyor system and the back conveyor system to create an insulatedglass unit: and wherein the gas press and seal mechanism includes asingle gas press that further comprises a shuttle whereby the single gaspress is moved between the front conveyor system and the back conveyorsystem and receives the spacer applied lites from one of the frontconveyor system and the back conveyor system and the topping lite fromthe other of the front conveyor system and the back conveyor system. 9.The parallel manufacturing line as claimed in claim 6, wherein the firstsecondary edge sealing head is movably supported on a gantry that movesthe first secondary edge sealing head in at least x and y directions.10. The parallel manufacturing line as claimed in claim 1, wherein theinsulated glass unit spacer applicator further includes an applicatorservo driven cup that grips the at least one glass lite and conveys theat least one glass lite forward in coordination with the spacerdispensing head while the perimeter spacer material is applied.
 11. Theparallel manufacturing line as claimed in claim 10, wherein the at leastone glass lite comprises a first glass lite and a second glass lite,wherein the applicator servo driven cup moves the first glass liteforward a short distance at the insulating glass unit spacer duringspacer application to make available space for the staging of the secondglass lite.
 12. The parallel manufacturing line as claimed in claim 1,wherein the secondary edge sealing unit further includes an edge sealerservo driven cup that grips the insulated glass unit and conveys theinsulated glass unit forward in coordination with the first secondaryedge sealing head and the second secondary edge sealing head while theedge sealant is applied.
 13. The parallel manufacturing line as claimedin claim 10, wherein the insulating glass unit further comprises a firstinsulating glass unit and a second insulating glass unit, wherein theedge sealer servo driven cup moves the first insulated glass unitforward a short distance at the secondary edge sealing unit during edgesealing to make available space for staging of the second insulatedglass unit.